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Thursday, 12 May 2016

Givers and takers

Time for a new rant by Dr Walnut, (there really is no limit to my ranting)

Once again this is a post more aimed at the world of gaming than gaming it's self. (no all these rants have nothing to do with my complete lack of tactical knowledge shush you.)

I often talk about the community we have in Malifaux, and I for the most part am proud to be part of a scene where so many people put so much into building, maintaining and improving this community for the rest of us.

The clubs and stores making space for us and provide us with somewhere to play. They could of stuck with the old tried and tested games that fill table around the country but they to the chance.

The TOs who one and all run amazing events, from once a year to once a month (or more) these people put a lot of time and effort in making sure the rest of us can have a good time. And even if you run an event where ninety percent of things go wrong that's still one hundred percent better than no event at all.

The rankings are a prime example of the work that goes into this community. In the few years I've been playing the amount of work, and man hours and passion that have gone into the rankings from everyone involved has been amazing.

The blogs (very important),fan pages, the podcasts and videos that people produce and put out to help, inform and amuse people is a joy. Think about the amount of time spent by people doing these just for the joy of the game.

You also have the biggest resource we have as a community, the players. Every player that makes a point of saying hello to the new faces and the old ones too, the people who offer advice, the people who shake your hand after a game and the people who challenge you to be better.

Everything listed above is an example of someone giving to the community, people tipping the scale towards being good and moving forward.

But...

For all the people who give to a community there will also be those few who only take, people pushing the scales from good to shit.

I'm talking about the people who will shout down anything new or different, just because you like something how it is or was doesn't mean it what's right.

The people who show up to events just looking for what they can get out of it, they give no thought to helping spread the word and push the tickets. They won't lift a finger to help set up or pack up. Complain about the the slightest mistake in running the event. They show up late and moan if you don't finish on time.

All the people who go out of their way to criticise and complain about media they are getting for free. "this blog disagreed with me its shit" "this fan page doesn't have my exact type of thing I like its shit" "that podcast talked about something not relevant to me its shit" "that video played a rule differently to me they're shit" All of that I know better, well actually nonsense.

And the players that leave a sour note in their wake. The players who snub the new people trying to pretend to be cool, and mock the old ones because they think they can. The players who dish out opinions or judgements without looking past themselves. The players who stamp their feet and blame the world for every wrong turn. The players who drive you to be like them or to walk away.

These people are takers, they feed off of communities like leeches and smile while they do it.

There will always be an uneasy balance between givers and takers, like and ugly ecosystem and a health community will always push the balance the right way.

The point is if you are in a situation where you need to wonder "am I being a twat?" just think which way am I tipping the scale.